Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Do I Have to Teach Them "No" Already??!!?!?!

We are slowly learning the word "no". It has become necessary to start this training since the TV and other electronic items have become seemingly more interesting within the last several weeks. A few months back when the babies started crawling, I was so proud of myself for making a "barricade" to keep the TV and other items associated with the TV out of harms way from the twins (or causing harm to the twins for that matter). I spent about an entire Saturday afternoon cutting plexiglass to the right size, making sure the edges weren't sharp, assembling a makeshift door for the TV stand and then installing all of the above. Whew! A few papercut-like wounds from the plexiglass, several hours and half a roll of duct tape later I had completed my baby-proofing.

I thought there was no way they could penetrate my TV-fortress, boy was I wrong! At now 11 months Matthew and Claire schemed together, while I was off doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms, to dismantle my hard work. I heard the stereo go on so I hurried to go back and check on them (mind you I only leave them for 10 minutes increments) I found them sitting on the plexiglass, the DVD player was opened, the stereo was at maximum volume, they had removed Jeremy's XBox 360 from it's perch on the second shelf and were each proceeding to chew on one of the controllers. I thought, "how in the world did they do all this in less than 10 minutes???" I reassembled everything, told them "no", and redirected them to play with another toy.

Since this little incident I have discovered how they were able to remove the barricade. They have each, on separate occasions, demonstrated the ability to display this next feat. In order to remove the barricade, they will grab on to the top and lean backwards with all their might until it lets loose, flinging the child that is removing the object and giving both babies access to the "treasures" they're after. The first time I witnessed this I couldn't help but laugh, not only at the shear determination but just the sight of one of the babies using all their weight to remove the plexiglass door.

Now, when Jeremy or I see someone touching the TV or TV stand, we say "No" very sternly. Usually Claire will stop and find something else to do. Matthew, however, will smile at you, then go back to the TV, when you say "No" again, he looks right at you. If you start moving toward him, he will immediately let go of the TV and scurry away laughing hysterically. They definitely know the meaning; it's just whether they choose to obey it!